Abstract:

The further education and training (FET) college subsystem is poised, in its new location in the post-school education and training system, to be a significant focus of delivery of vocational and continuing education and training with strong links to industry in order to meet the critical skills shortages. National Curriculum Vocational (NCV) was introduced in 2007 at TVET colleges as a general vocational programme which included both academic and vocational subjects. However, the emerging concern is that although the NCV was specifically intended to bridge the gap between theories provided in academic institutions, the curriculum of this subsector does not sufficiently reflect practical component. As a result, learners often exit these programmes without the necessary practical skills. This paper explores the extent to which admission policies take into account the practical experience gained in the articulation of TVET colleges’ students. Issues in the paper include the seeming gap between theory and workplace experience, secondly development of recognition of prior learning (RPL), and lastly discipline-based learning. The results of the study will hopefully inform future admission policies to take into account the practical experience gained at TVET colleges in progressing to Central University of Technology (CUT). This study, using a non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive method, sought to establish student perception and admission experienced at CUT who studied at TVET colleges before progressing to CUT. A purposful sample comprising of 20 students will be randomly selected from the tourism & Marketing students. Data will be statistically anaysed using the SPSS

Keywords:

Vocational education, curriculum, articulation.